For 45 years the focus of the Montana Women’s Run on the Saturday before Mother’s Day has been on health and camaraderie among women of all ages and abilities.
It began in 1982 as a 5K and a 10k women’s race at Pioneer Park near downtown Billings, put on by the men of the Yellowstone Rim Runners running club. About 200+ women were entered.
Participation waned until a group of women took over the race in 1986 to keep the event alive. They lined up sponsors and door prizes, changed the distances to 2 miles and 5 miles, and eventually settled on a downtown course.
These women were visionaries said Ekkie Wedul, a Montana Women’s Run board member, volunteer, and long-time participant. They were the ones to come up with a long-sleeved pink t-shirt.
“In 1986 there just was not such a thing as a pink t-shirt in a race. It just didn’t happen,” explained Wedul.
The long-sleeved t-shirt stayed.
The run grew to almost 9,000 entries back in 2015. Then COVID hit and numbers dropped. In 2025 entries were back up to around 5,000, still one of the largest races in Montana and one of the largest women’s events in the region.
Since1994 the race has given money back to the local community, which to date has been$1,927,500 going to local groups like the Billings YWCA, the Billings Clinic Women’s Wellness Fund and the MSU-Billings and Rocky Mountain College women’s Cross Country scholarships, the Billings Family WMCA and the Montana Amateur Sports Foundation.
The run is Saturday morning, May 9th. Participants can walk, run or wheelchair either distance. The run also offers a virtual 5 mile and 2 mile options.
Wedul (who participated in that very first race in 1982) says the best thing about the race is the camaraderie.
“And the feeling of being downtown with all these women that are doing the same things you’re doing. But you don’t know that until you get together with them,” Wedul said.
Information and registration can be found at the race website: womensrun.org.
